


Keep it down, you are very distracting

by ChiefOfLaurians



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Dorks, Dorks in Love, F/F, Flustered Erin, Holtzbert - Freeform, In which Holtz is a little shit, Loud Sex, Neighbors, different first meeting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-12 05:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9056506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiefOfLaurians/pseuds/ChiefOfLaurians
Summary: "Erin let out a frustrated sigh. It was 11.30 pm on a Tuesday night, she was very sleep deprived, suffering from a mean headache, still had about 50 papers to grade before Thursday and to top it all off, her new upstairs neighbor seemed to be having the time of their life given the moans and cries that were currently resonating in her room. "Basically Erin tries to put up with her loud new neighbor until she can't and decides to face them. (Hmm who might that new neighbor be???? I know the suspense is unbearable)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys :D Soooo this is my first time writing for this fandom and my first multi chapter fic. I've wanted to write Holtzbert for quite some time now but apparently, inspiration only comes to me when I am supposed to study for my exams^^ but better late than never. I have a few ideas where I wanna take this so stay tuned :) 
> 
> I am sorry if I've made a few mistakes, English is not my first language. Also, any kind of constructive criticism is greatly appreciated :)
> 
> Anywayyy I hope you enjoy it :3 and hope that you all had a happy non-denominational holiday :D

Erin let out a frustrated sigh. It was 11.30 pm on a Tuesday night, she was very sleep deprived, suffering from a mean headache, still had about 50 papers to grade before Thursday and to top it all off, her new upstairs neighbor seemed to be having the time of their life given the moans and cries that are were currently resonating in her room. She grabbed her umpteenth cup of coffee of the night to take a large gulp to calm down but instead choked which resulted in her spitting the hot liquid on herself as the voices became louder and dirtier. Great, as if this day could not get any worse she fumed. 

 

She groaned while massaging her head with her hands.   Ever since that damn neighbor had moved in, that is about a month ago, they had been very loud doing god knows what at ungodly hours and that prevented her from getting a good night sleep. Hence her current bad mood.

 

Most of the time, the noises were metallic, almost as if her neighbor was playing the drums with some sorts of pipes all night long in rhythm to 80s music.  And she could almost swear that at some point she had even heard a few light explosions and could smell smoke. So, of course it would wake the physicist up as she was a very light sleeper and prevented her from going back to sleep. 

 

How come no one had filed a complaint yet she thought. Was she the only one who was disturbed by the noise?  It had to stop.  If it were to go on, it would drive her nuts.  She sighed and tried to focus once more on her tests frowning furiously doing her best to ignore the moans coming from the ceiling.  Suddenly, a few seconds later, she heard a deafening BANG followed by loud laughs. “That’s it!” she groaned more irritated than ever while putting down the papers violently on her bed.

 

Without thinking, and forgetting that she was only wearing her pajamas, the brunette stormed out of her apartment and climbed up the stairs on edge.

Once in front of her neighbor’s door, Erin, still feeling a bit confident and mad as hell, knocked vigorously three times.  She crossed her arms and waited trying to master a threatening look as best as she could. As the time passed, she began to panic a little bit. She was not big on social interactions, especially with people she did not know. She had never met that neighbor and had no idea what to expect.  Maybe that person would not appreciate her disturbing their ‘intimate time’. Maybe they would insult her, make fun of her, or maybe even hit her. Maybe she was just overreacting and they would think that she was crazy. It wouldn’t be the first time. Her mind was now going a million miles per hour. This was a bad idea, perhaps she should just go back to her room and put up with the noise just like she had for the last month or so? Maybe she could keep on doing that? Had it really been that bad?  Literally everything sounded less terrifying than facing that unknown person. 

 

Just as she was about to bolt, the door swung open revealing a petite blonde, in her late twenties or early thirties. Her hair was a complete curly mess. A large pair of yellow lens googles was resting on top of her head  failing miserably to keep some sort of order in the chaos that was happening up there. She was wearing a large  sweatshirt  stating “Orgasm donnor, ask for your free sample” with a little cross that barely covered her legs. The outfit was completed with a weird necklace made of steel in the shape of a U transpierced by a screw. It took Erin a few seconds to register the joke behind it due to her initial shock. The sight could have been completely ridiculous, but somehow, the woman seemed to make it work.

 

Erin just stood there gaping at this strange and somehow appealing vision. Out of everything she had pictured in her mind, this was the furthest thing that she would have come up with. 

 

“Come here often?” the woman asked smirking while leaning against the door nonchalantly.  “Might catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that hot stuff”. Erin blushed profusely.

 

“I… I… I’m your downstairs neighbor” Erin replied having a hard time forming her sentence.  She looked down at her feet and fidgeted with her hands before looking up at the captivating woman again “It’s just… you’re not at all…what I had expected”.

 

“ Woow look at that, you were thinking about me before even meeting me. Damn I knew I was good but I didn’t think I was THAT good.”  The woman attempted a dramatic pause before continuing “Nope, I knew I was actually.“ She  winked at the physicist who slightly blushed  again. “So… What did you expect?” The blonde chuckled at her joke, the reference visibly lost on Erin she added “Hope you’re not disappointed. “

 

As the brunette was still staring at her clearly speechless the blonde kept on going “Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of being visited by such a pretty lady like yourself this late at night?”

 

The woman seemed to be enjoying the effect she was having on Erin and intended to use this to her advantage as much as she could.

 

The physicist suddenly realized that she had been gawking at the blonde the whole time and switched her gaze to look at her hands, well anywhere than those piercing blue eyes that were giving her an obvious onceover. Erin nervously  tucked a lock of hair behind her ear now more aware than ever that she was only wearing her plain old striped pajamas with a large coffee stain on the pants. Kudos for the great impression you are making, Erin admonished herself silently. “ It’s just that I have been trying to grade some physics papers for  my class and the… erm... noise you’ve been making is very ermmmm “ she blushed not quite knowing how to finish her sentence “distracting… you know. ”.

 

“Distracting? Hmmm no I had no idea, could you enlighten me though please? I’m eager to understand.“  The blonde said enthusiastically smiling in a goofy way, almost childlike.

 

Was this woman for real? Erin thought but a voice coming from inside the apartment startled her before she could speak again. “Holtz, are you coming back soon? The bed’s getting cold without you”. 

 

Erin had already taken a few steps back and was about to leave suddenly remembering why she was here in the first place and visibly embarrassed by the whole situation she had just interrupted but the blonde tried to stop her “Hey! Wait! Wanna join us? We could convert our potential energy to kinetic energy, if ya know what I mean.” She asked winking yet again mischievously.

 

Erin became bright red “What??? … but… I… I don’t even know you.” Great now she was starting to sweat.  Given the way the night was going she wouldn’t be surprised  if a meteor came crashing down right on the spot where she was standing. At least it would stop her from making an even bigger fool out of herself.

 

«Holtzmann, virgo, avid skier, gluten full and a hundred percent jazzed to meet you » The blonde said extending her hand towards a stunned Erin.  The physicist looked at the outstretched  hand then to her neighbors face. She wiped her own hand quickly against her pants in an effort to hide the fact that they were all sweaty from the curious interaction before shaking the blonde’s hesitantly.

 

“Erin… Dr Erin Gilbert of particle physics” she stuttered quickly.

 

“Well it’s nice to meet you Dr Erin Gilbert of particle physics.” Holtzmann bowed dramatically while kissing her hand gently before letting it go. “Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, do you wanna get better acquainted?“ The petite woman winked again at her having realized that the older woman blushed every time she did so and also because she found this really cute… and hot. “I promise I don’t bite, neither does Hayley, well unless you’ve been naughty. “  Then with all the seriousness in the world Holtzmann went on while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively . “Tell me, have you been naughty Dr Erin Gilbert of particle physics?”

 

Erin became redder than a tomato. “I have a boyfriend” the brunette blurted. “Whom  I am very much in love with…. Because he is a man, and I Iove manly… men? His name is Phil, he works with me.  We work together.  That’s how we met. Yeah it’s just me, plain old Erin dating a regular Phil, erm coworker and being a couple.  Men are just…. You know what? I should… I should probably go, I’m so sorry for disturbing you. Just please try to keep it down. Bye.“  She uttered rapidly without even breathing before running away from the blonde .

 

Well that was definitely interesting Holtzmann thought unable to stop the smile creeping up her lips as she watched the older woman rushing down the stairs.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holtzmann designs a devious plan to both avenge Abby and get under Erin's skin to get closer to her.

Holtzmann had been working with Abby at the Kenneth P. Higgins Institute of science for the better part of a year now, helping her continuing her research on the paranormal. They were very close to a breakthrough  regarding the hollow laser for the reverse tractor beam, so that’s what Holtzmann was currently working on to try to take her mind off of her cute downstairs neighbor who as it turned out, was also her best friend’s ex best friend. Which was definitely not good.

 

Needless to say, Abby and Holtz had grown quite close over the past few months, what with Abby being the only person  who gave her a second chance after the lab incident preventing her from joining CERN. Abby had also been one of the very few people who had never judged the engineer and had accepted her just as she was, with her quirkiness and all. Holtzmann had never had real friends before and therefore felt quite protective of Abby and would literally go to the ends of the earth for her. Sure she flirted a lot with pretty girls but it never went beyond the occasional one night stand as she was not the kind of woman you bring home to meet the parents, or that’s what her dates would imply anyway.

 

By being close to Abby, she had heard all about Erin Gilbert, Abby’s only friend in high school, how close they had been. They were both passionate about the paranormal, they both had been bullied for being different and had even been called ‘crazy’ quite a few times. She had also heard about how badly Abby had been hurt when Erin had abandoned her after they had written their books, ‘Ghosts from our pasts’, without a word and that she had never tried to contact her since. Even though Abby kept on saying she was over it, that it happened a long time ago, she clearly wasn’t given the way she would still talk about her former friend.

 

That’s why when her cute annoyed disheveled neighbor had introduced herself as Erin Gilbert the other night and also because she looked like an older version of the picture of Erin that was  on the book (indeed she had thought the brunette looked familiar), everything clicked in Holtzmann’s head. She was THE Erin Gilbert, the one who had put her best friend through so much. 

She was mad at her but at the same time she had been intrigued by the physicist after having read the book Abby and her had co-written. Erin was a genius, her mind was simply brilliant.  There was no other word for it. Their research was truly groundbreaking. And despite what Erin had done to Abby, the engineer couldn’t help but be in awe of her mind hoping to have the chance to meet her one day.

 

And as if her wish had come true, here she had been, right in front of her. She had not wanted to reveal who she was, nope, she had hurt Abby and Holtzmann was very loyal to her friend and could not disregard that. But at the same time, there was something about the Erin besides her brilliant brain. Holtzmann had known in one glance that she was in trouble.

 

But maybe, just maybe she could have fun with the situation, turn it to her advantage while remaining loyal to Abby by avenging her and at the same time getting close to the physicist by annoying her.  It could be a win-win situation after all. 

Given the way Erin had reacted to her previous flirtation (the engineer enjoyed flirting with pretty girls) Holtzmann had decided to go all out and toy with her even more when she had realized who the brunette really was. She had nothing to lose. At best it would get Erin in her bed which she was not at all opposed to even though she  knew that it was highly unlikely with what Abby had told her. Or more plausible case scenario, it would get Erin all flustered  and embarrassed (she was off to a good start already) which would be fun to watch anyway.  So she had done exactly that and had not been disappointed with the results. Apparently she had quite the effect on the physicist.

 

Holtzmann also had had no idea that she was being very loud while working or having company at night. Well she was aware but did not know that the neighbors could hear her as she had chosen this specific building due to the great sound isolation it offered to be able to work  peacefully.  After  Erin’s revelation she had dug into it and had realized that the floor was very thin (defect  of the building her landlord had said) and allowed most of the noise to pass through and herself could hear whatever was happening in Erin’s apartment as well if she listened  attentively. That was too good an information too waste.

 

She really wanted to see Erin again but at the same time didn’t want to betray Abby like that for a crush.  So here she was at 10pm on a Saturday night at her apartment designing a devious plan to get on Erin’s nerve (for Abby’s sake of course because Erin deserved it, and not at all for her own agenda) and also to be able to see the brilliant cute physicist again (and making her all riled up because her reactions had amused Holtzmann to no end). Since the floor was not as sound proof as expected and Erin could practically hear everything that was happening up there and the other neighbors could not, Holtzmann  made it her mission to be as loud as possible all night long, well except for the few little hours she would sleep. She would put on music at full volume, would make things explode more than usual (not small poofs but medium poofs instead for a better efficiency), and would not hesitate to tinker loudly on her machine with her tools. That way Erin would not be able to sleep, would be pissed and would have to come see her again to yell at her about the noise.  Yeah it was the best plan she’d ever had. Erin could also go to their landlord to complain but Holtzmann doubted she would do that, at least not right away.

And what better time to start executing her plan than right now. She swicthed on the music and grabbed her screwdriver smirking. The night was going to be so long but so fun.

 

 

 

 

It took Erin 3 days before she came up to bang loudly again on her neighbor’s  door. No response came. Truth be told she had not wanted to face Holtzmann just yet and had hoped that she could have kept on avoiding her forever. But the woman had  been quite adamant on making her life a living hell. She had been louder than ever those last 3 days, that is ever since the physicist had complained to her. Erin had barely gotten any work done and let’s not talk about sleep. The dark circles under her eyes spoke plenty for themselves. While avoiding Holtzmann she had tried to talk to the other neighbors about the blonde but no one seemed to have heard anything which she found a bit strange. 

 

Holztmann was clearly doing this on purpose and she just couldn’t put up with her eccentricities and lack of respect anymore. She would give her a piece of her mind. But before doing so, this time, she had taken the precaution of getting dressed and had put on her tweed  suit with a small bow tie to give her more confidence. She wanted to give herself some sort of composure to be taken seriously by the petite woman and the tweed helped her accomplish that. And maybe, but she wouldn’t admit it,  she had put it on because she thought she looked great in it. After all, hadn’t Dr Filmore, the dean of the physics department at Columbia, implied that her clothes were too sexy for academia?

 

She tried a second time and yelled “Holtzmann, You know I could hear you  2 minutes ago so I know you’re there”.  Again she was met with a deafening silence besides the music coming from inside the apartment. She banged again  “I swear to god if you don’t open the door I’m gonna”. The engineer opened the door at this very moment and ducked almost immediately to avoid getting punched in the face when she realized that Erin was gonna hit the door one more time as her brain had yet to register that the door had just been opened and that Holtzmann was in her trajectory.

 

“ Wooow You carry a lot of tension in your shoulders Gilbert” almost yelled in a fake worry tone to be heard over the music that was blaring through the stereo while looking at the woman in front of her. Her old school outfit made of tweed suited her perfectly Holtzmann had to admit and her eyes stopped on the cute little bowtie. “How may I be of assistance tonight Milady?”

 

“Seriously Holtzmann? I can’t sleep, I can’t even remember the last time I slept more than 3 hours in a row! I’m going crazy! What are you even doing up here?” She paused before adding  “And please, for the love of god, shut down that music, my ears are going to explode. ”

 

“It’s highly classified, like deadly classified Gilbert. I don’t want to have to kill your pretty face  because you’ve been too curious for your own good. That would be a shame.” Holtzmann winked at her and continued.  “I’m sorry Er-bear but I can’t turn off the music, the best part’s coming up”. Then Holtzmann started to dance and lip-sync  quirkily and suggestively along to Rhythm of the night.

 

Erin was about to reply harshly, annoyed that the woman was unable to take anything seriously, when she took in the sight in front of her. Was her neighbor giving her  a show? This time Holtzmann was wearing a green crop top paired with blue overalls stained with paint and motor oil. She still had her yellow googles on top of her head and her hair seemed to be put up in an intricate up do incomprehensible for the human eye. Her necklace was still there. Again quite an unconventional outfit but the woman was rocking it anyway.  Speaking of rocking, Erin was doing her best not to let her gaze fall on the engineer’s hips moving in rhythm to the music. She groaned exasperated at herself. But her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she heard a poof followed by the smell of smoke. 

                                                                      

“Is something burning?” Erin scrunched up her nose trying to look inside the woman’s apartment.  Holtzmann’s face remained quite calm  like it was not serious at all and kept on dancing, though a small smirk could be seen if one would look closely.  Erin tiptoed to  scan the room and spotted a small fire on a table.

 

“Holtzmann! Holtzmann!  Fire, Fire towards the…Fire” she yelled panicked pointing at the table trying to get the attention of the blonde.

 

The woman shrugged and danced flawlessly toward the fire extinguisher, winked at her  and used it very suggestively to put out the fire, while looking at an Erin who was now deep scarlet.

 

“Holtzy sorry. Holtzy more careful with small poofs. But Holtzy can’t make any promises.” The engineer said smugly with a little voice not sounding as sorry as she wanted to make Erin believe.

 

How could someone be so careless? It was beyond Erin. She could have blown the entire building up and yet she acted as if it were nothing at all. But she was too tired to argue  about that subject tonight. She just wanted to find her bed, sleep through the whole week end, and especially not think about her annoying and disrespectful neighbor. And to be honest she didn’t trust herself to stay much longer inside this apartment.

 

 “I don’t know what your problem is with me,  I don’t know what I ever did to you, just please, It has got to stop!  I need to sleep! Don’t make me come back here to tell you to stop again.“ Erin said trying to look as angry as possible while throwing her hands in the air. As she stormed out of the apartment she added “And try not to kill us all in the process!”

 

So far, her plan was going great, Holtzmann thought. Erin was annoyed and would come back, she had said so herself. Yup shit was about to hit the fan in the best way possible.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I'm sorry you had to wait that long for an update, I've been quite busy with my exams but they are over now so I should be able to post more regularly :)
> 
> I wanted to thank you for the kudos and all the nice comments :3 
> 
> Soooo without further ado, here is the third chapter

And so, Holtzmann’s little game went on. The engineer would make something go boom or would tinker very noisily on her machines, and, most nights, Erin would show up exasperated.  Holtzmann would then flirt unabashedly with her and Erin would yell and ask her to keep it down before leaving.  But despite everything the physicist said, she never once complained to their landlord. It gave Holtzmann more and more confidence about what she was doing. She loved getting on Erin’s nerves, the brunette was quite cute when she was all riled up or blushing. 

 

That’s why now Holtzmann had developed a new variation of the game, she didn’t want them to get in a rut so to spice things up a little, she would sometimes try to elicit an even bigger reaction out of Erin. But she had to concede that it was going to be hard to top the first time they had met even though she had a few ideas.

 

 

_***********_

_“_ Holtzmann, I’m glad that you have a healthy sex life, really it’s great, good for you yeah“ Erin fired her finger guns in the air and if it wasn’t the cutest thing Holtzmann had ever seen, she did not know what was. “but I don’t need to hear every…. “ Erin suddenly stopped when she realized that the engineer was fully clothed with an opened can of pringles in her hands. She was crunching on one as Erin was speaking trying to hide her smirk.

_“_ Wait you’re not??? But I heard… “ Erin stopped not wanting to embarrass herself any further.

 

“Heard whaaaaaat?” Holtzmann asked coyly.

 

“Hum Nothing. Must have been in my head. I’m sorry“

 

“You thought I was doing the nasty?” Erin became  completely red “Sorry to disappoint Hot Stuff. I’ll try to turn the volume of my TV down if disturbs you that much”

 

“You were watching… “

 

“Porn? Yep, why do you sound so surprised? Everybody watches porn.”

 

“I…I don’t”

 

“You’ve never?” Erin shook slowly her head looking down. “OHMYGOD Erin, you’re so missing out! It would help you to relieve some of that tension that you’re carrying by the way. Hey we could finish this one together. It’s about two neighb…”

 

“I think I’m gonna pass. Gotta lot of grading to do.” Erin interrupted.

 

“Right, raincheck then”

 

“Erm good night… Enjoy it?”

 

“Oh I definitely will. Sweet dreams hot stuff” Holtzmann winked. She gave her her trademark two fingers salute before closing the door. She had not say no Holtzmann thought.

 

***********

 

 

As  time went on, it had become some sort of a habit for them to meet like this.  And Erin seemed to be as keen to see Holtzmann as Holtzmann was to see her which made the engineer quite happy.  Even if Erin wouldn’t admit it, she was always looking forward to go up and yell at her neighbor just so she could see what strange attire she had chosen to wear or stare at her piercing blue eyes.

 

 

Even after Holtzmann realized that she may have gone a little too far with the noise and toned it down a little to make Erin’s apartment more livable, the physicist kept on showing every night decidedly  letting show more and more that she was not as angry as she let on and that she appreciated whatever this was that was beginning between them.

 

It had become less and less about avenging Abby and more and more about getting under the skin of her cute neighbor. At this point she would be loud just to attract Erin to her apartment.

 

 

 

That’s why, after a rather quiet week, Holtzmann was starting to miss the brunette. She hadn’t seen her for the past three days. To remedy that situation, she created a small explosion to lure the physicist in. Of course it had been a success: a few minutes later Erin showed up at the door.  But this time, the blonde wanted to have a real conversation with her. Their little exchanges, as entertaining as they were, were not enough anymore.  She wanted to know the real Erin. The one Abby had known all those years ago.

Before the brunette had time to knock, the engineer had already opened the door giddily holding two mugs. She didn’t let Erin speak and asked her “Care for a cup of coffee Milady?”

 

“You were expecting me?”

 

“Duh, I’m a scientist, and as the great scientist that I am, when I want to figure something out, I form an hypothesis, I observe , study and then I draw conclusions I was just running  another experiment  to complete my data. My hypothesis being that the noise I make attracts you to my apartment. So yeah and now I think I’ve made one of the most crucial discovery of the 21st century. Oh my god, I’m going to win the Nobel Prize” Holtzmann said dramatically.

 

“Holtzmann! Shut up! Am I really that predictable?”

 

Holtzmann gesticulated her hand towards the brunette “Well you are here”

 

“So… you did this on purpose… to see me?”

 

“Maybeeeee?”

 

 

And that is how Erin Gilbert found herself on Holtzmann’s couch at 9.30 pm on a Monday night.

 

“So you are a nuclear engineer?”

 

“Yup and an orgasm donor in my spare time, but hey you’ve seen the shirt. By the way if you ever find yourself craving that free sample, all you have to do is knock down my door. I may give extra free samples for really pretty ladies like yourself.”

 

 She opened the can of pringles that was on her lap and offered it to Erin who denied by gently shaking her head.  Holtzmann shrugged and put 3 crisps in her mouth.

“Try saying no to these salty parabolas”. She said with her mouth full to Erin who was giving her an interrogating and disgusted look at the same time.

 

“So, you bring your work home?”

 

“Weeeeeell, I used to stay quite late at the lab to complete my experiments and inventions. I don’t sleep a lot ya see and once I have an awesome idea I can’t think of anything else so sleeping is pretty much out of the question. Anyway there was a big poof that one night which turned into a medium fire and now they close the lab at 7 pm  and throw me out. They’re afraid that I will burn down the entire building if I’m not supervised.

 

“I’m sorry Holtzmann  but I can’t say I blame them given what I’ve witnessed so far” she said laughing

 

“Supervision is for dudes” she sulked.

 

“But in all seriousness, what are you working on that requires that much tinkering?”

 

“Well I’m building something amazing but I can’t tell you much more because”

  
“You’d have to kill me. I think know the drill by now”

They both smiled at each other.

 

“I can tell you that I make things go boom quite often though if that’s any consolation.”

 

“I had guessed that much” She paused “You like to remain mysterious”

 

“Gotta keep a girl interested.” Holtzmann winked. “By the way how’s the boyfriend?”

 

“What boyfriend? …. Oh Phil? Great, great, we had lunch together today, yeah nice lunch date, very nice.”

 

“Cool” Holtzmann shrugged without buying it.

 

“How’s erm Hayley?”  Erin asked trying to sound as non-committal as possible.

 

“Woow you remember her name? Your memory’s better than mine. I don’t know.”

 

“What do you mean you don’t know? You guys broke up or something?” Erin asked failing to hide the hope in her voice.

 

“Hahaha sweet sweet Erin” Holtzmann chuckled “ You are too cute for your own good.”

 

Suddenly Erin heard a few squeaks and felt something on her shoulder.

“What is that? Are those… rats?” she half yelled not because she was scared but because she did not expect to feel a little ball of fur against her skin.

 

“Not rats” Holtzmann said feigning offense “Chinchillas! They must have opened their cage again. They ‘re almost as smart as their mommy. Erin meet my children.” Holtzmann gathered her pets in her arms “Children come say hi to your new cute neighbor and please try not to drool too much, mommy’s already done it enough for all of us and it’s getting embarrassing. Erin, this is Scully, Archi, E.T. and Ada. Children, this is Erin.  Say Hi.” Holtzmann then proceeded to say Hi with a little voice.

 

“Hi” Erin found herself waving at Holtz’s chinchillas trying to keep from laughing at the beautiful sight. Holtzmann was really cute and did look like a child. She had that little sparkle in her eyes when she was talking about her ‘children’.

 

 

They watched them go about their business for a little while basking in the comfortable silence between them.

 

Usually Erin did not do good with strangers but there was something about this woman that she found endearing. Despite the flirting, she felt really at ease with her. And she was not gonna lie, it was nice to feel wanted for a change. She always felt out of place with Phil and he often acted as if she was annoying or embarrassing him.

Even though she should have been mad at Holtzmann for not respecting her (well she was at first), Holtzmann had brought a little bit of joy to the dull life she was leading with all her eccentricities. It had put a stop to the sort of boring rut that her life had settled into. She never knew what new scheme Holtzmann would come up with to annoy her and to tell the truth she was looking forward to see what she would do next. The engineer was quite entertaining, confident, beautiful, funny and the list could go on forever. In short everything Erin wasn’t (or so she thought).  She glanced toward the blonde and smiled at her. Holtzmann smiled back and petted Ada or was it Scully, Erin wasn’t sure.

 

She looked at the clock and sight. It was almost midnight. She did not want to go back to her sad and cold apartment. Holtzmann seemed to sense that something was amiss and frowned.

 

“Everything all right Er-bear?”

 

“Oh yes… Erm I never thought I would say that but your children are really cute.”

 

“Yup they got their dashing good looks from me obviously but they aren’t the cutest thing in this room if ya know what I mean” Holtzmann wiggled her  eyebrow at a blushing Erin. “But seriously Erin, you know, you can always come up to my apartment whenever you want to or feel down or want some company or whatever. I don’t mind and my children are already quite fond of you.”

 

How did she know what exactly was bothering her Erin thought. “Thank you Holtzmann”

 

“You can call me Holtz” Erin flashed her a sincere smile.

 

“Thank you Holtz” She squeezed her neighbor’s hand before returning to play with the chinchillas not quite ready to leave just yet.


End file.
